Monday night, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Lazy Dog Joe" went up.
A Los Angeles Times opinion column is firing up the Internet after Virginia Heffernan wrote about her anguish in not knowing how to respond to neighbors cleared the snow on her driveway. They problem is that they also voted for former President Donald Trump. The column entitled “What can you do about the Trumpites next door?” explores her struggle with how to respond while comparing all Trump supporters to Nazis and Hezbollah. It is unfortunately hardly surprising to see such unhinged hateful comparisons in today’s age of rage. What was surprising is need to publish such a column containing gratuitous attacks on over 70 million voters as comparable to genocidal murders or terrorists.
While most of us would find a thank you as natural and immediate, Heffernan explores her struggle in decision how to respond: “Of course, on some level, I realize I owe them thanks — and, man, it really looks like the guy back-dragged the driveway like a pro — but how much thanks? These neighbors are staunch partisans of blue lives, and there aren’t a lot of anything other than white lives in the neighborhood.” She notes that Hezbollah “also gives things away for free” but “The favors Hezbollah does for people in the cities Tyre and Sidon probably don’t involve snowplows, but, like other mafias, Hezbollah tends to its own — the Shiite sick, elderly and hungry.”
Under the guise of working through these issues, the column seems more of a vehicle for suggesting Trump voters are little better than terrorists and murderers. It matter-of-factly treats such references as obvious or plausible comparisons. There is less evidence of honest internal debate as much as satisfaction in being able to demean and marginalize almost half of the electorate.
Virginia Heffernan's an idiot. This is the woman, please remember, who referred to Bernie Sanders' supporters as "Russian dupes." She's also a rude and ill mannered person. Someone shovels your snow? You don't repay them by writing a column like that. That's not being a good neighbor, that's not being considerate. It's demonstrating that her parents failed her because they didn't instill appreciation in her as a child.
Equally true, why is she a columnist for THE LA TIMES? She's not in California if neighbors are shoveling the snow off her drive. It's like when they refused to give a slot to someone in the state and went instead with the idiot Rosa Brooks. They need to get their act together.
"TV: Exclusion empowered by The Water Cooler Set" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):
Again, this isn't about reality, it's what makes The Water Cooler Set comfortable and they're not really interested in a documentary about an artist if the artist is Black. They're only interested in a 'race relations' documentary that features one White face after another telling you what it was like back then to be Black -- or, more often, especially in the case of Paula Wayne, what it was like to be White around a Black performer. While coddling these White voices, the documentary repeatedly ignores monumental moments such as Sammy filming a TV pilot for ABC in 1953, THREE FOR THE ROAD, but, despite good word of mouth, ABC couldn't find a sponsor willing to back the show. That's not addressed. Nor is THE SAMMY DAVIS JR. SHOW of 1966 ever noted, a variety series he hosted but was not allowed to host some episodes for a brief time because ABC suddenly invoked their contract from a decade prior with Davis. As a result, Sammy would only appear in seven of the fourteen episodes of a show named for him. This was the first variety show of the sixties hosted by an African-American (others had hosted variety shows in the 50s including Nat King Cole). "Race" is addressed with Paula Wayne raging against Frank Sinatra for not telling JFK that Sammy had to perform at the presidential inauguration. She doesn't rage against JFK for nixing Sammy. Time and again, the powerful (JFK, corporations like the makers of Geritol which didn't want to sponsor a show with an African-American lead) are let off and the minor are slammed. Major events, like the MLK-led March on Washington in 1963, which Sammy was a part of, are reduced to less than 30 seconds or outright ignored.
What the 'documentary' does do is tell the story of White America while pretending to tell Sammy Davis Jr.'s story. It's exactly what The Water Cooler Set stands for and it is reductive and uninclusive and, hopefully, it will soon be a thing of the past. It needs to be.
Well said.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Monday, February 8, 20201. More US troops leave today for Iraq while Joe Biden has no policy to offer on that country but does continue to lie about his own Iraq experience.
The war never ends. Ben Rodgers (KTSP) reported on Friday:
Sixty soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard will be deployed to Iraq and Kuwait.
The soldiers from B Company, First General Support Aviation Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment based in St. Cloud will deploy Monday.
Those troops are leaving today. Iraq? It's a country that continues to fail to serve its own citizens. Sura Ali (RUDAW) reports:
Fresh protests broke out in several provinces across central and southern Iraq over the weekend, with several protesters wounded, activists told Rudaw English on Sunday.
Demonstrations broke out in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Friday. Clashes took place between demonstrators and riot police where three protesters were wounded, local activist Muhammad Khayat, told Rudaw on Sunday.
Protesters blocked the Hadarat Bridge in the city centre before returning to Habboubi Square, the city’s protest hotspot that has witnessed some of the bloodiest crackdowns on demonstrators since popular protests began in October 2019, calling for basic services and an end to corruption.
"We receive threats almost daily on social media, but this will not prevent us from continuing to sit-in in Haboubi until our demands are met." Khayat said.
Activist Maytham al-Mufadhal, also from Nasiriyah, told Rudaw English that they demand authorities reveal the fate of the activist Sajjad al-Iraqi, who was kidnapped by an unknown party in September.
"We received many government promises to reveal Sajjad's fate, but several months passed and the results of the investigation were not released. The sit-in continues until the fate of Sajjad is revealed," Mufadhal said.
Activists are often threatened, kidnapped and killed for their involvement in the protest movement. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sent counter-terror forces to Nasiriyah to find Iraqi in September, claiming to know of his location, but he is yet to be found.
IRAQ AND MIDDLE EAST UPDATES Tweets:
US troops are being sent to Iraq and kept in Iraq to prop up a US-created government there that does not recognize the rights of the Iraqi people and does not serve the Iraqi people.
Najaf saw other actions on Saturday. The cult of Moqtada al-Sadr attacked the people of Najaf on Saturday. RUDAW reports:
Militia forces affiliated with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raided a
number of activists' houses in Iraq’s Najaf province on Saturday night,
activists told Rudaw English. The raids came a day after a group of
activists chanted slogans criticizing the cleric on the one year
anniversary of the killing of tens of people by Sadr supporters.
Activists on Friday held a ceremony to mark the one year anniversary of a
massacre in Najaf’s Sadrayn square where Sadr supporters known as the
"Blue Caps" stormed an anti-government protest camp. Twenty-three people
were killed and more than 182 wounded, according to AFP.
Live rounds and petrol bombs were used against protesters during
clashes, and their tents were burned or removed. Days later, Sadr
announced the dissolution of the "Blue Caps" militia.
Video from the anniversary ceremony on Friday showed dozens of people
gathered in the Writers Union Hall in Najaf, chanting slogans against
the Sadrist movement and its leader. "No god but Allah. Muqtada is the
enemy of Allah,” they shouted in clips that went viral on social media.
The day after the ceremony, forces from the pro-Sadr Saraya al-Salam
(the Peace Brigades) militia stormed the homes of four activists,
terrorizing them and their families, according to Najaf activist Saif
al-Mansoori.
This follows Friday's action in Najaf. Fadhel al-Nashmi (ASHARQ AL-AWSAT) reported, "Unidentified assailants attacked the headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party in Najaf with Molotov cocktails, burning the offices despite causing no causalities." It's related. In the past the Communist Party partnered with Moqtada. That partnership broke and last week they announced an alliance with the demonstrators. Then their headquarters were bombed.
What's the plan, Joe, what's the plan?
There is none. So he just avoids the topic.
He gave his 'big' speech on foreign relations last week. Sheldon Richman (ANTIWAR.COM) observes:
Also among the no-mentions was Afghanistan. How can Biden give his first speech on foreign policy without discussing the country’s longest war? That is really remarkable. The names Iraq and Syria also do not appear in the speech. Amazing.
The 20 minute speech contained no mention of Iraq, as Dr. Abbas Kadhim pointed out in a Tweet:
In 2002, Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War.
All these years later he has to 'familiarize' himself on Iraq before he can figure out a policy? He has nothing to offer because he chooses to have nothing to offer. And if he truly had any regret over his Iraq War vote, he would be compelled to make up for it now. He's doing nothing because he doesn't now -- and never did -- give a damn. That's why, when he threw out the Iraqi votes of 2010 via The Erbil Agreement, he went to Baghdad and gave puzzled Iraqis a lecture about Ireland -- a lecture that had nothing to do with them.
It's not like Joe can't talk about Iraq at all. He can lie about it. And he's been lying yet again. Rudy Takala (MEDIAITE) explains:
President Joe Biden on Thursday repeated a claim to a gathering of State Department employees that he once came under fire abroad.
“You have great personal courage. I’ve been with some of you when we’ve been shot at,” Biden told staff, without detailing the incident in question.
It’s unclear what specific incident Biden was referring to in his remarks, but in the past he has faced scrutiny for similar comments. Biden previously made the claim at a Democratic presidential primary debate in July 2007. “Number one, you take all the troops out,” he said. “You better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the Green Zone, where I have been seven times and shot at. You better make sure you have protection for them, or let them die.”
He later clarified those remarks to say he was inside a building in Iraq’s Green Zone with a contingent of visiting senators that “rattled” as a result from a blast in 2005, and suggested the “shot” that had been fired was akin to mortar fire. “I was near where a shot landed,” he said. “No one got up and ran from the room — it wasn’t that kind of thing. It’s not like I had someone holding a gun to my head.”
Patrick Campbell, then legislative director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told The Hill at the time, “Veterans don’t like it when people mischaracterize their service, people who overstate what happens to them. We have names for them.”
George Washington University professor Stephen Hess said in 2007 that the claim “fits into [Biden’s] profile, and that’s exactly why he should be terribly careful about statements that may not quite parse out or deconstruct under scrutiny.”
Biden has a reputation for gaffes and stretching the truth. He said incorrectly in 2008 “I am a hard coal miner,” and was forced to drop out of the 1988 Democratic presidential primary for plagiarism of speeches and a law school paper.
So he can talk about Iraq, he just can't tell any truths about that country. Then again, Joe has an estranged relationship with the truth:
Caitlin Johnstone (ICH) observes:
When you oppose the horror that is western imperialism people try to paint you as a radical extremist who can’t just be reasonable and pragmatic about things, but really nothing could be further from the truth. There’s nothing “radical” or “extreme” about opposing the domination of the entire planet with relentless acts of mass slaughter to the detriment of the world’s most vulnerable populations, all because some sociopaths in DC decided that it is good and reasonable to inflict any amount of terror upon our world to preserve unipolar US hegemony. Opposing this is just basic human sanity.
People will act like you’re unreasonable and impossible if there’s not a single US politician you support.
“Not even Bernie?” they’ll ask. “Not even AOC?? What’s wrong with you?!”
If you are an anti-imperialist, being asked to choose a US politician you support is like being asked to pick a favorite Nazi. The US empire is the single most evil and destructive power on our planet right now and everyone on Capitol Hill is an imperialist facilitator of mass murder, yet you’ll be treated like an extremist moonbat if you don’t like any of them. The problem isn’t that an anti-imperialist has strange, impossible standards, it’s that they oppose an insane and murderous status quo which only elevates leaders who will advance that status quo.
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: Hey, Joe, where you going with that gun...
- TV: Exclusion empowered by The Water Cooler Set
- Don't fall for The Fraud Squad
- Roundtable
- KINDLE UNLIMITED (Trina, Ava and C.I.)
- Tweet of the week
- Books
- TV Talk (Stan, Ava and C.I.)
- This edition's playlist
- Highlights
- #NoCompromiseNoRetreat #ShutDownAFRICOM #Abolish10...
- AOC pushes censorship as indie media is under atta...
- How Biden Ended Racism With Justin Jackson & Marga...
- #TheJimmyDoreShow Biden Breaks Deal To Withdraw Tr...
- Dr. Michael Knox: Is More Peace Possible?
